Roman onomastics in the Greek East: social and political aspects ...

appears established before the endofthe 1st century
B.C. in Akanthos, the natural maritime outlet of
the area and, more importantly, the safest port of
call for ships linking the East to the West, at a time
when land transportations where plagued by
barbarian raids and Philippi, with its port of
Neapolis, were not yet under Roman control 5 .
The situation was drastically remedied under the
peace of Augustus. With Thrace under Roman
control and, later, under direct Roman rule, with
the establishment and fast development of the
Roman colony at Philippi and that of Apri to the
North of the Thracian Chersonese some decades
later 6 , the safety of the land transports was guaranteed.
The importance of Akanthos seems to have
declined, her role being taken over by Neapolis, and
nothing more is heard of its conventus c. Romanorum.
Was it absorbed in the colony of Cassandreia?
The assumption would have been plausible were
it not for some unexpected evidence testifying to
the persistence of domiciliated Romans in
Mygdonia, at least to the end of the 1st century
A.D. No less than 21 ephebes —out of a total of
180, indeed 11%— in four different ephebic lists
from the city of Kalindoia (modern Kalamoton)
carry the Roman citizenship or use Roman nomina
(or derivatives of such nomina) in an otherwise
Greek type of nomenclature 7 . To judge by their
cognomina, three of them appear to belong to neo-
Romans of non Italic origin, owing their enfranchisment
to emperors of the Julio-Claudian
and Flavian dynasties: Τ. Κλαύδιος Ζώσιμος 8 , T.
Φλάουϊος Απολλώνιος 9 , Γάϊος Ιούλιος Μαρας
10 ; five others are of Italic origin on the evidence
of their latin cognomina, enfranchised probably
under the triumvirate or by some Julian emperor 1 '.
Furthermore, eight ephebes, also of Italic origin,
descend probably from families of negotiatores n .
The names of five other Roman geritesi, are deduced
from various forms of nomenclature borne
by non-Roman citizens, as are the names of the
Publicum and the Ventuleni 15 attested in epitaphs
of later date from the same area. It is noteworthy
that none of these non imperial gentes is attested
in the relatively scanty prosopography of the
Roman colony of Cassandreia 16 .
Archaeological andepigraphic discoveries from
Kalindoia indicate a majorrise of the importance
144
L. LOUKOPOULOU
of the city under Augustus; there is evidence for
the instauration in the city of the cult of Rome and
Augustus —with monthly sacrifices, athletic
contests and other festivities— and for the dedication
of a statue of Cesar Augustus funded by a
wealthy citizen, Apollonios son of Apollonios son
of Kertimmas 17 . Was it the influx in Kalindoia of
the Roman negotiatores of the area and the establishment
of the conventus c. Romanorumwhich
accrued the city's importance and wealth, bringing
5. Cicero's laments over the loss of control over the
essentially important military East-West axis illustrate the
situation which prevailed in the province; cf. the analysis
proposed in Hatzopoulos-Loukopoulou, Two Studies 62­
100.
6. On the Colonia ClaudiaAprensis, see L. Loukopoulou,
'"Colonia ClaudiaAprensis', μία ρωμαϊκή αποικία στην
νοτιοανατολική Θράκη", ΜνήμηΔ. Λαζαρίδη, Πόλιςκαί
χώρα στην αρχαία Μακεδονία και Θράκη, 9-11 Μαΐου
1986 (Thessalonikel990) 701-715.
7. The lists are published in Hatzopoulos-Loukopoulou,
Recherches 187-94, nos. K9-K12.
8. Hatzopoulos-Loukopoulou, Recherches 190, no. K9
lineDlOO.
9. Hatzopoulos-Loukopoulou, Recherches I 91, no. Κ
11 A1-2. Cf. op. cit. 84, no. K6: Φλαουΐα Μύστα.
10. Hatzopoulos-Loukopoulou, Recherches I 90 , no.
K9D95.
11. Hatzopoulos-Loukopoulou, Recherches I 89 (K9
C70: Μ. 'Αντώνιος Λόνγος); I 89 (K9 C69: Κόϊντος
Κάσσιος Σεκοΰνδος); I 88 (Κ9 Β24: Λ. Ιούλιος Κέλερ
Κέλερος); 188 (no Κ9 Β25: Γ. Ιούλιος Πρόκλος, υιοί); Ι
90 (Κ9 D97: Σέξτος Ιούλιος Πρόκλος).
12.Hatzopoulos-Loukopoulou, Recherches I 89 (Β56:
Caecilii); 193 (Κ 11 D61 : Cottii); 193 (Κ 11 D65: Maesiior
Messii); 194 (Κ 12.21 : Statuii); 189 (K9 C68: Sulpicii, [cf.
ibidem, no. K9 D90: Σουλπάς]); 194 (K12.14: Terentii);
192 (Kll B21 -.Tessidii).
13. Hatzopoulos-Loukopoulou, Recherches I 92 (Kl 1
C45: Bruttif); I 92 (Kl 1 Β17: Herennii); I 92 (Kl 1 B20:
Rennif); I 92 (K12. 12: Rhodii); I 92 (K9 C63: Scanii).
14. Hatzopoulos-Loukopoulou, Recherchesl59-60, no.
A14 (Anthémonte).
15. Hatzopoulos-Loukopoulou, Recherches 160-61, no.
A15 1-3 et 9-11 (Anthémonte).
16. D. Samsaris, "Ή ρωμαϊκή αποικία της Κασσανδρείας",
Δωδώνη 16 (1987) 353-433.
17. Hatzopoulos-Loukopoulou, Recherches 1, 77-80,
no. Κ2; on the statue of Cesar, see ibidem, with plates
XXXIII-XXXV.